Tag: Drag Qieen

Second Life Steals, Deals, and Freebies: How to Do Drag on a Dime in Second Life!

As my regular blog readers know, I have a drag queen avatar in Second Life, named MissDrag, and I have written about doing drag in SL before (here, here, and here).

Now, in the real world, I have never (yet!) picked up a makeup brush or cinched my waist (as if!) to fit into some eleganza extravaganza ballgown and lipsync for my life, but despite this lack of real-life experience, please let a truly seasoned DIGITAL drag superstar (well, in my own French vanilla fantasy, anyway) share a few tips on how to get started in Second Life drag.

First, understand this: THERE ARE NO RULES IN DRAG. RULES ARE MEANT TO BE BROKEN. DRAG WAS AND STILL CAN BE A TRANSGRESSIVE ART FORM. So feel free to break some rules about what a drag queen (or drag king!) should look like.

I mean, in the recently-concluded Season 12 of RuPaul’s Drag Race, one of the finalists dressed up as a piñata who occasionally farted out confetti!

Drag queen Crystal Methyd, dressed as a piñata 

Given the virtually endless avatar customization options in Second Life, your drag can be anybody (and anything) you like! Start with a male body, start with a female body, start with something in-between, or start with something completely different: a mermaid, a centaur, or a technicolor whirlwind of animated pixels! Whatever you can dream up, you can create for your own unique, signature look!

I mean, if you stop to think about it, everybody in Second Life is already doing drag. It’s actually a lot harder to recreate your actual, real-life look than it is to start from scratch with a blank canvas! (Although if that’s your scene, more power to you, boo. It’s your Second Life; make it what you want!)

Well, I woke up one morning
Flossed my teeth and decided
“Damn, I’m fierce!” You look good!
You can be just like me! A goddess? Yeah!
Don’t just pussy foot around and sit on your assets
Unleash your ferocity upon an unsuspecting world
Rise up and repeat after me: “I’m beautiful!”

—I’m Beautiful, by Bette Midler

In real life, I am a 56-year-old, gay, divorced academic librarian who spends waaay too much time on the Internet, and is significantly overweight, asthmatic, and sometimes struggles with clinical depression, but in Second Life, I am Vanity Fair, the absolutely fabulous former supermodel 😉

I mean, if this is not drag, then what is? I just choose to unleash my ferocity upon an unsuspecting virtual world instead of the real world!

My main avatar Vanity Fair: Everybody in Second Life is doing some form of (digital) drag. (This delightful Lou belted minidress is a free gift from Asteria, by the way!)

Now that we have firmly established that there are no rules, there are, however, a few general tips and guidelines. First: BIG HAIR, mawma! (Although many well-known real-world drag queens like are rocking the bald look, too!).

The higher the hair, the closer to God.

—Dolly Parton

If Dolly speaks the truth, then this next hairstyle is truly divine! This is the Hunny wig from Zsa Zsa’s House of Beauty, home of the finest drag queen wigs on the grid.

It comes the fabulous wig wall at Zsa Zsa’s Haus of Beauty (exact SLURL, open your map and follow the red arrow from your initial spawn point on the Tableau sim):

Here’s the full look, from head to toe:

Another guideline which can be observed or discarded as you see fit: accessories are all-important.

Purse first!

—Bob the Drag Queen

This wonderful purse is the Love Loca handbag from Vive Nine/Ryvolter (here’s the exact SLURL):

This purse comes in various versions with different Bento poses, hanging from your shoulder, elbow, hand or even just one finger!

This avatar is wearing:

  • Mesh Head: Freya by Catwa (free group gift, no longer available for free; more details here)
  • Mesh Body and Nail Polish: Romeo by Altamura (this was a free group gift for Valentine’s Day 2019; the Altamura group costs L$100 to join, but I had joined back when it only cost L$50)
  • Hair: Hunny wig by Zsa Zsa’s House of Beauty (L$235)
  • Eye Shadow: Pride Galaxy eye shadow by Dotty’s Secret (free group gift; group costs L$75 to join, but I took advantage of a free group join period in the past)
  • Lipstick: the high-definition lipstick is included in the Catwa Freya package
  • Dress: this green Liam dress was a freebie from the SL Marketplace! It comes in just the Signature Gianni size, but I was able to make it fit the Altamura body using the alpha sections on the HUD.
  • Purse: the Loca Love handbag in black from Vive Nine/Ryvolter (L$249 per colour)
  • Shoes: I picked up these female sandals and tintable feet by Ydea (which completely replace the masculine feet of the Romeo mesh avatar!) from The Free Dove, but they are no longer available there, and unfortunately, I cannot find them anywhere else in-world or on the SL Marketplace. No matter. I’m sure you can get similarly creative for your own drag look!

TOTAL COST FOR THIS DRAG LOOK: Only L$534! (L$50 to join the Altamura group, L$235 for the wig, and L$249 for the handbag)

Now we turn from day wear to evening wear! Check out this sickening lewk!

This avatar is again wearing the Freya mesh head by Catwa (which includes the lipstick you see here) and the Romeo mesh body by Altamura, plus:

  • Hair: Eleganza wig from Zsa Zsa’s House of Beauty (L$180)
  • Eyeshadow and Eyebrows: Vanilla makeup set by Dotty’s Secret (L$200)
  • Choker: the Nefert golden choker was a free gift from Poison Rouge at the recently-concluded 5th anniversary round of the Très Chic shopping event
  • Dress: This gown is my own unique creation! I bought the full-permissions Men’s Long Sleeve Skirt Dress from White Canvas Templates from the SL Marketplace for L$200, and textured it myself using a red bandana pattern I already had in my inventory, adjusting the tiling (i.e. how often the texture repeats) to get this look.
  • Purse: the Loca Love handbag in red by Vive Nine/Ryvolter (L$249 per colour)
  • Shoes: The same Ydea sandals and shoes as above (no longer available)

TOTAL COST FOR THIS DRAG LOOK: Only L$879! (L$50 to join the Altamura group for the Romeo body, L$200 for the Vanilla makeup, L$180 for the wig, L$200 for the full-perms gown, and L$249 for the purse)

So, what are you waiting for? Get out there and put together your own drag on a dime! And feel free to send Auntie Ryan pictures of your eleganza extravaganza!

And don’t forget to hit the SL Pride Festival to pick up some free gifts to help you create that signature look; the festival closes today! Here is more information on the Pride Festival.

UPDATED! Doing Drag in Second Life: Part II

We’re all born naked, and the rest is drag.

—RuPaul, Born Naked

Last April, I wrote a blogpost about doing drag in Second Life, using a classic system (non-mesh) avatar:

Velcro Zipper, Second Life Drag Queen (System Avatar)
“The higher the hair, the closer to God.”

Today, I decided to challenge myself to see if I could create a drag queen look with the new Romeo group gift from Altamura. (By the way, today is the final day you can pick up the Romeo and Juliet full-body mesh avatars as group gifts at the Altamura mainstore! So, if you haven’t done so yet, hurry down to pick them up! They are a truly fabulous deal we will probably not see again for quite some time.)

One advantage of the Romeo full-body mesh avatar is that the lipstick, eyeliner, eyeshadow and nail polish can be applied directly from the included HUD! (How very metrosexual!) And the body is Omega compatible with the Altamura Omega relay installed, so despite the masculine shape, I could easily add Omega-applier ballgowns. Here’s what I was able to come up with in about 20 minutes:

MissDrag, Second Life Drag Queen (Mesh)
Hmm, I may have made MissDrag a little too tall. I may also need to adjust the body sliders a bit to get a shapelier figure…
Aah, yes, that’s much better. Shorter and curvier. Amazing what a little work with the body sliders can do, even with a male avatar!
The shoes under the ballgown!

This avatar is wearing:

  • Mesh head and body, including makeup: Altamura Romeo
  • Hair: FABIA Lilak mesh hair (free group gift, the FABIA group is free to join, but only between February 25th and March 15th, 2019)
  • Gown: black ballgown by UniQue (Omega appliers and flexiprim skirt; free from The Free Dove)
  • Stole and Jewelry: free group gifts from Glitzz at this SLURL; you must join the [G] Glitzz group for free to get these gifts)
  • Shoes with Feet: chained black sandal by YDEA (comes with a HUD to adjust the skin tone; free from The Free Dove). These are essential to replace the manly feet of the Romeo avatar! (You can hide the feet using the included HUD.)

TOTAL COST FOR THIS AVATAR: L$149 (L$50 to join the Altamura Design/Mesh Avatars group, and L$99 for the Altamura Omega system kit available at this SLURL).

Now, I’m going to take MissDrag over to Frank’s Jazz Club and see how long it takes before someone calls security 😉

UPDATE Feb. 28th: I spent another L$50 to join the Dotty’s Secret group and picked up all the free group gifts of drag makeup from the Dotty’s Secret group gifts wall (which include Omega appliers). Here’s another look, featuring the Miss Universe makeup set by Dotty’s Secret and yet another free ballgown from The Free Dove, this one by Graffitiwear:

FLASHBACK TO 2019: RuPaul’s Drag Race Runner-Up Lady Camden Hosts Drag Queen Bingo in High Fidelity!

While British-American drag queen Lady Camden came in second to the winner of season 14 of RuPaul’s Drag Race, Willow Pill, she still won US$50,000, and Lady Camden is, to my knowledge, the first ever Ru girl to appear as an avatar in social VR, on Philip Rosedale’s High Fidelity platform, in 2019. Here’s a look back:

February 7th, 2019: Well, this evening’s BINGO EXTREMO event at High Fidelity was well attended, with 150 avatars playing several successive games of Bingo for prizes of Oculus Rifts, HTC Vives, sums of HFC (High Fidelity’s in-world currency), or (twice) everybody present winning 100 HFC! In a surprise twist, our emcee was none other than London drag queen Lady Camden:

Lady Camden’s avatar in High Fidelity looked remarkably like her real-life self!

There were a few technical glitches (some people’s numbers wouldn’t rez on their Bingo cards, and the sometimes the board showing which numbers were called was too blurry to read), but overall, the event was a success.

High Fidelity seems to have truly mastered the ability to host events with a large number of avatars present. Congratulations to Philip Rosedale and his team for another successful Bingo night!

Doing Drag in Second Life

RuPaul’s Drag Race is my guilty TV pleasure. I am currently watching Season 10, as the drag queens viciously battle each other for the crown. It got me wondering whether or not I could create a convincing drag queen in Second Life. And, with the help of products from two SL stores, I succeeded in making myself into a real drag queen!

Velcro Zipper at Franks 3 APr 2018_001.png

As Karin Gillespie said: “The higher the hair, the closer to God.” And this glorious wig is from the marvelous selection of drag queen wigs from ZsaZsa’s House of Beauty in Tableau. My makeup comes from Dotty’s Secret Drag Queen Makeup and Accessories Store (it’s available in Catwa and Omega appliers for mesh avatar heads, as well as a facial tattoo for older system avatars). Here’s an overall view of my outfit:

Velcro Zipper 2 at Franks 3 APr 2018_001.png

The rest of my outfit was free! The slinky black evening gown by Emerald Couture and the chunky gold-and-diamond jewelry by JUMO I got from the excellent Freebie Store at Ajuda SL Brasil. And under the gown, I am wearing the black pumps from the Iliana avatar from SL’s own starter avatar selection.

There you go—drag on a dime! (Now, let’s see how long I can hang out here at Frank’s before they call security…).